1950 Black Sunday in the Northeast. TMalmay

AP Wire Service Five Cents of Each Other Night in Mid-Afternoon Hits *^ Area as .Smoke Blots Out Sun; Canadian Forest Fires Cause Eastern U. S. 1 Has Weitd Afternoon, Night A combination of Canadian forest fire smoke and high altitude altitude winds teamed up to blanket the major portion of the eastern part of the nation yesterday. The resulting blackout kept telephones ringing in newspaper, radio and weather bureau offices. offices. In Lock Haven there was a partial blackout from close to 3 p. m. until actual nightfall. Carried by winds that varied from 20 to 70 miles an hour, depending depending on altitude, the occur- ence gave Sunday two sunsets and two sunrises. From 4 p. m. until 6 p. m., period of the thickest thickest overcast, there was complete darkness. Approach of the smoke appeared appeared foreboding and grim. In some parts the darkness was taken as some sort of warning, The Associated Press reported. A few people with war jitters thought an atom bomb had been dropped, the news service said. Many Inquiries Early in the afternoon the AP described to The Express what was happening. Later the news service said its telephone switchboard switchboard was busy answering questions. questions. Some people thought it was an eclipse. Others, to ease worry .telephoned to make sure it was not something of a more serious nature. Barn Burns on Hotter Farm $10,000 Loss Occurs During Hoy Baling More than $10,000 in buildings, grain and equipment were destroyed destroyed this morning in a fire caused by a freak accident at the Roland A. Motter farm a half-mile east of Loganton on Route 780. The fire started during hay baling operations about 10:45 a. m. Some of the hay fell on the exhaust of the hay baler engine. The dry grain burst into flames and ignited the straw stack which was lodged tightly against the barn. Over 100-years Old The barn, which is estimated to be at least 100 years old, was so dry the flames enveloped the entire structure in a few minutes minutes according to eye-witnesses. The Sugar Vailed Fire Company responded to the call immediately immediately but the booster streams were ineffective against the rabid conflagration. Firemen saved the new corn crib, standing standing about 40 feet from the barn. This structure, built this fall, was valued between $800 and $1,000. Mr. Motter had 1,200 bushels Cold Winds Blow Smoke Across State the of and announced. on to ox by be sale of The entrant's to of Clinton was for to a wife this Sept. the In the province of Alberta, In Canada's west, forest fires have ravaged a 50-mile area. They are burning about 150 miles north of Edmonton. The smoke rose to immense heights and was carried first south and then east, according to weather bureau bureau wind charts. The AP told of a TWA pilot who radioed he was flying blind on instruments at 25,000 over Cleveland. Baseball games in Pittsburgh and Cleveland were played under floodlights during the afternoon. Airliner Lands in Dark As in other areas, motorists in Lock Haven were forced to switch on their headlights. Because Because of the strange color cast by the sun through the smoke haze, car lights looked like fluorescent fluorescent lights. Before total darkness darkness arrived people appeared yellow skinned. Street lights in the city were switched on. See SMOKE (Page 2, Col. 2) of grain, valued at about $1,200, and 400 bushels of wheat, valued at about $800, stored in the barn. The barn, valued at $5,000, was covered by insurance. No livestock livestock was in the building. Lost Tractor, Baler Kermit Brungard, Tylersville, who was operating the baler, lost both his tractor and baler. The fire broke out so rapidly and with such terrific intensity that they were unable to save his machinery. The tractor is valued at about $1,800 arid the baler, recently purchased, is worth about $1,500. Mr. Brungard Brungard carried insurance on his equipment. Chauncey F. Royer, Loganton, told The Express the barn was exceptionally large, being 100 by 50 feet, and probably could not be replaced for less than $10,000. This is the second tragic fire loss for the Motter's. Eight years ago their home was completely completely demolished by fire while the family was visiting in Lock Haven. Political Battleground ... Dilworth Appeals to Vets; Grundy Praised by GOP former was one in husband members taking stated at to Mrs. her PHILADLEFHIA, (AP) — The battle against Communism cannot be won by armed might alone, says Richardson Dilworth, Democratic candidate for governor. governor. Dilworth laid down a program for veterans, including suggestions suggestions that ex-servicemen and women support the move for universal military training. Dilworth urged veterans to battle for re-employment security security for men volunteering or called into service; legislation to prevent hoarding and black market operations; a "real place" for veterans' organizations organizations in the nation's civilian defense defense program; measure to insure insure security against Communist Communist Infiltration and sabotage, and mobilization of public opinion opinion back of the nation's present war effort. LEHIGHTON, (AP) — U. S. Senator Francis J. Myers carried carried his Democratic campaign for reelection Into Carbon and Monroe Counties today. Myers said election of a Republican Republican Congress this year would bring an end to America's prosperity and economic progress. progress. uci one He said: "The economically unsettlet hard coal region of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, perhaps more than any other region of the state, needs me in Washington and a Democratic Democratic administration in Harrisburg. Harrisburg. 1 * DOYLESTOWN, (AP)—Former (AP)—Former U. S. Senator Joseph R. Grundy was praised by three top members of the Republican party at a rally but the 87-year- old industrialist was not present ;o hear it. Grundy was in Maine on vacation vacation when the rally was held Saturday in this Bucks County GOP stronghold. It was for Gov. James H. Duff, GOP senatorial candidate, and John S. Fine, gubernatorial candidate. Duff did not mention Grundy in his talk to more than 400 party workers. But Fine, Secretary of Internal Internal Affairs William S. Livengood, Livengood, Jr., who is seeking reelection, reelection, and state GOP Chairman Chairman M. Harvey Taylor did. Grundy's closest political lieutenant, lieutenant, A. Harry Clayton, presided presided at the rally. Arrangements for the event were made by state Senator Edward B. Watson, Watson, another Grundyite who is being recognized by the Duff- Fine managers as campaign director director in Bucks County. HARRISBURG (AP)—John S. Fine says President Truman's veto of the anti-Communist legislation legislation emphasizes the need for more controls. "The Truman administration x x x has courted the 'parlor pinks', the 'left wingers' and those who have sold our country country down the river of pro-Red diplomacy," Fine said in a campaign campaign statement. By THK ASSOCIATED PRESS A heavy overcast covered Pennsylvania yesterday, plunging plunging much of the state into an early darkness, coloring th« skies yellow and purple and in directly causing one death. Noah L. Richardson, 65, was killed by an auto as he tried to cross a street in Tyrone in the darkness of mid-afternoon. Meteorologists looked for clearing clearing skies today although they said considerable smoke was drifting at high level from vast forest fires in Canada. The director of the Fels Planetarium Planetarium in Philadelphia called the phenomenon "unique." Dr. I. M. Levitt explained that "any kind of particles in the sky- dust, smoke or ice—can cause a change in the coloration of the sun, as well as the sky itself." But, he added, he "had never heard of nor seen" such, a sun a« was evident in the state yesterday. yesterday. Observers reported the color of the sky ranged from pale yellow yellow to brilliant aquamarine to bright lavender. In Lock Haven, some folk thought an expected eclipse of the moon had come a day early. Race Driven •art Pittsburgh, which lost ite title of the "Smoky City" some year* ago, was blacker than night from S until shortly before 8 p. m. Fans attending the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati Pittsburgh-Cincinnati doubleheader at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field saw part of the first game and all of the second under lights. The same situation was true at Erie where the Erie Veterans opened their All American Football Football League season by playing the last three quarters under the lights. An airlines pilot flying over Erie at 25,000 feet reported he had to use instruments because of the smoke. All through Western Pennsylvania Pennsylvania it was the same. Newspaper offices and radio stations were flooded with in- queries. Most children remained Indoors. Indoors. Towns looked deserted although although here and there adults gathered in neighborhood groups to look at the skies and to wonder wonder what was happening. Police In most communities ordered street lights put on early. Motorists moved at a snail's pace. Lights Turned On At Harmarville, Pa., a soccer game was called off 10 minutes after play started in the second half. The field was not equipped with lights. Two race drivers at New Kensington Kensington were injured in crashes. The stock race card was called off after only four races. In some areas, even the chickens chickens were fooleo; by the phenomenon. phenomenon. The. chickens went to roost early. Across the nation, a chill blast hit a large area of the nation again today under a heavy layer of smoke from Canadian forest fires. But the smoke, about 3,000 feet thick, was moving out into the Atlantic Ocean and the weather bureau expected temperatures to return to their autumn nor- mals as the sun again comes into view. The smoke moved in yesterday yesterday over the area from the Great Lakes eastward to the seaboard and as far south as the Ohio Valley. The'New York weather forecaster said he never had heard of such a thick layer of smoke over such a wide .area. An airplane pilot who landed at LaGuardia Field, New York, said the smoke base was at about 14,000 feet altitude and its top at about 17,000 feet. It was moving seaward at about 35 miles an hour. The smoke was carried along from smouldering forest fires, in Northern Alberta and thf s ~' trlct of Mackenzie to C

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